The Unexpected
by OswinOswald
Summary: Caroline Ashburn, the daughter of a Marine, lifelong friend of the Bartowski's, and the owner of a rocky past. She was supposed to be a Nerd Herder at the Burbank BuyMore. She was supposed to live a normal life. She wasn't supposed to see the email. She wasn't supposed to be involved. She definitely wasn't supposed to, under any circumstances, fall in love with her handler.


_Disclaimer: I own nothing but my darling Carrie._

* * *

She walked into the electronics store with a purpose; after casing the place, she made her way to the "Nerd Herd" desk, which was occupied by two of the computer technicians and one of the salesmen.

The salesman in the green shirt was checking her out, brown eyes roaming and tongue hanging out like a dog. She hid her disgust behind her ever present smile. His dark brown hair was a "bowl" style, and his beard was a little off putting. He was pretty short, and she thought that she spied a stain on his khaki pants. Everything about him screamed "I still live with my mother."

One of the computer technicians, the female, was lazily flipping through a magazine while lounging back in her chair with legs stretched out and her feet, in white low top converse, propped up on the desk. As she got closer, she realized that it was a comic book, not a magazine, and original from the look of it. She seemed completely focused on it, her dark brown eyes scanning the page with care. Her straight hair hung over the back of the chair, such a dark brown that it almost looked black. Her legs were long in comparison to her body, but she seemed of average height, if a little less.

The last worker was tall. He towered over Green Shirt, and probably the girl as well. His brown hair was curly and messy, which was cute on him. He had a pocket protector with his name on it, and she thought it was a bit dorky. The girl had her name card hanging off her skirt, but she couldn't see the tall guy doing that. The geeky look worked for him. He was on the phone, looking through some files. She smiled a bit brighter as she approached the tall one, her mark.

When she finally reached the desk, the tall one was singing about a "Vicki Vale," while the green shirt looked around to avoid eye contact. The girl continued to read her comic without noticing anything out of the ordinary. Finally, the tall one looked up, his brown eyes making contact with her blue ones, and he dropped the phone that he was holding in between his shoulder and his ear.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," she said, putting on a cute little smile.

"No, not at all," the tall one replied, looking a bit embarrassed. "That's from-that's from Batman."

She smiled a bit brighter. "Because that makes it better." The tall man answered with a nervous laugh.

The green shirt piped up. "Hi, I'm Morgan, and this is Chuck." She didn't know that he went by Chuck instead of Charles, so she stored that interesting tidbit away in her brain.

"Wow," she said, "I didn't think people still name their kids Chuck… or Morgan, for that matter."

After explaining their origins, Chuck continued on with a, "How can I help you…"

"Sarah," she said, laying down a cell phone on the counter, "I'm here about this."

After his brief explanation of the defects in that particular model, he pulled out a screwdriver and fixed it. Taking the phone back from him, Sarah smiled up at Chuck and replied, "Wow, you geeks are good." At this, the girl reading the comic finally looked up to share a look with Chuck, and then she turned to Sarah.

"We prefer nerds… I mean, you know, Nerd Herd and all." She told Sarah with an apologetic smile and a gesture to the sign above their heads, and Sarah realized that she might have misjudged the comic girl. At first Sarah had written her off as just another employee, but with that shared one look and her interjection, she knew that Comic Girl's relationship with Chuck was more than just professional. In his file, it didn't mention anything about a romantic relationship in at least five years. If she was romantically involved with him, Sarah's mission would be for naught.

Just as she was about to snoop a bit more, a man rushed in, with his child and a video camera in tow. "Excuse me, excuse me! I have an emergency! I don't know what I did wrong, but I, uh, shot the entire recital, and now, now it won't play back!"

Chuck was quick to help. The man seemed to have forgotten to put a tape in, and Chuck had gotten some tape for him and was currently shooting the girl's dance recital in the store. He had seemed hesitant to leave Sarah, but his caring nature couldn't stop him from helping the girl and her distraught father.

On the other hand, Sarah was thrilled. Now she could talk to the girl, who had gone back to being engrossed in her comic, and see whether they were involved or not. After Chuck looked back at Sarah from his spot by the video camera, she turned to Comic Girl and said, "Wow, he's really something, isn't he?"

The girl looked up at Sarah, and then looked to where Chuck was filming the girl dance. "Yeah, Chuck's great; he's probably the nicest guy I know. We've been friends forever." While Comic Girl had identified their relationship as platonic, Sarah still didn't know if there were any feelings either harbored for the other, as that would complicate her mission. So she tried one final test.

"Do you think he'd want to go out with me sometime? That kind of a guy almost always has a girlfriend, and they're so hard to find…" Sarah had asked Comic Girl. Sarah watched her reaction closely. If Comic Girl was sad or jealous, Sarah would know; reading emotions had been in her training.

"I'm sure that Chuck would love to go out with you sometime. He hasn't been out with anyone in some time, and you seem perfect for him." Comic Girl had said with pure honesty, and Sarah knew that she wouldn't be a problem; at least on Comic Girl's end. Maybe the fact that Chuck hadn't been on any dates was because he liked the avid comic reader? Sarah would just have to wait and see. So she smiled and wrote her number on a card and gave it to Comic Girl, saying that she had an appointment and that she needed to leave.

"Could you get this to him?" Sarah asked.

"Of course," Comic Girl assured her.

Just as Sarah was turning to leave, Comic Girl stopped her. "My name is Caroline, by the way. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of each other soon." Caroline gave a bright smile along her sentiment, and Sarah couldn't help but send a forced smile back. _I don't think so, Caroline._ Then Caroline went back to her comic, and Sarah left the store.

When Chuck finally got back to the Nerd Herd desk, he was disappointed to see that Sarah left. "Don't be sad yet, Chuck," Caroline interrupted his sad inner monologue, "she left you her number." Without looking up from her comic, she held up the card in between her index and middle finger. Smiling a goofy smile, Chuck took the card from her and began to work happily. That is, until Caroline interrupted him.

"Chuck?" Her tone was frightening, and she was looking at him when he turned to see what she was wrong, her comic discarded on the counter beside her. And it was then that he was reminded of the weird morning that he had had and all the pictures that kept flashing through his head.

"Have you been seeing things too?" He asked. She raised an eyebrow, and he continued. "I know it sounds crazy, Carrie, but all morning I've been seeing really strange things. I keep seeing things or hearing things on the news or radio and then these images flash through my head, and I know things that I shouldn't know. And I sit here and I keep thinking I'm going insane, but then I remembered seeing those images last night in that email that Bryce sent last and you saw them too and maybe there's a connection?"

When Caroline looked at him with worry, he turned away. "Oh, maybe I am just going insane. Just forget I even said-" he stopped when Caroline put her hand on his shoulder; when he turned to her, her worry had turned to panic..

"Chuck… What's happening to us?" she asked, her voice shaking.

He pulled her in for a tight hug before speaking. "I don't know, Carrie. I just don't know."

"Ashburn! Bartowski! Break up the love fest and get back to work!" The two pulled apart to look at Harry Tang, the grouchy and demanding salesman who had a personal vendetta again Chuck and Caroline. He growled at them once more before continuing terrorizing the workers of the BuyMore, as Caroline glared at his retreating figure.

Work was pretty uneventful. No matter how much Morgan had talked about it, wished it, and predicted it, no woman came in the store gave him her number. He thought that if Chuck had gotten a girl that day, it stood to reason that he would also meet the woman of his dreams that day. He was wrong.

It was Caroline's turn to drive that day. Because she and Chuck lived in the same apartment block, they took turns driving each other to work. Morgan also tagged along most of the time. If she were honest, Caroline practically lived at The Bartowski residence. The only thing she used her own house for was sleeping and making the occasional breakfast.

Besides that, she hung out at Chuck's house after work and always ate dinner with him, Ellie, and Devon, Ellie's boyfriend. Ellie was Chuck's big sister, and she thought of herself Caroline's sister as well. Devon was better known to Chuck and Caroline as "Captain Awesome," the nickname that the two of them had come up with for him when he first started dating Ellie. It seemed like there was nothing that he couldn't do; he was a cardiovascular surgeon, he worked out all of the time, and he did a bunch of extreme sports. It seemed like he was always shirtless—Caroline didn't mind, because the extreme sports and the exercise paid off; he had an amazing body. Chuck was a little uncomfortable with the constant nakedness, but he dealt with it.

Caroline often stayed late after dinner, talking with Chuck or playing videogames with him or just reading comic books. That's how she had seen the email that Bryce had sent to Chuck.

The night before, it was Chuck's birthday. Ellie had thrown him a huge party, but he hid out in his room with Caroline and Morgan, trying to think of a way out of it. Ellie had found him and forced him to go out and mingle with "the real girls" that she had invited just for him. Luckily Caroline got to stay in Chuck's room while he was forced into talking with people. She read a couple comic books, and after a while, a dejected Chuck came walking back into his room.

"Rough night?" Caroline had asked, not looking up from her comic. She didn't often make eye contact with people; it was just the way things were. She was pretty shy, and found it easier to talk to people without seeing their faces. She was an avid people watcher, but she didn't like interacting with them. Sure, she was able to help a customer and be the epitome of friendliness, but anything beyond banal chit chat or doing her job she despised. Not that anyone knew that. In addition to her being a computer whiz, she was also a great actress.

There was a time when she truly liked talking to people other than her close friends. There wasn't a friendlier person than Caroline Ashburn in the world, baring Chuck Bartowski, of course. But things happened, and people changed. Life got complicated.

Chuck didn't even question her presence, and landed face down on the bed beside her.

"More than you could imagine," he mumbled into the pillow. Caroline sat up to pat him on the back, and she noticed an email alert on Chuck's computer.

"No way," she said, moving over to the computer, "Chuck, Bryce sent you an email."

"What?" Chuck exclaimed, getting off the bed and going over to the computer. After opening it, they realized that it was their version of Zork, a text based video game that the three had worked on in college.

"What the hell is he playing at?" Caroline asked, and Chuck glanced over at her use of a curse. Caroline was the nicest person that Chuck had ever known, and she never had been her boyfriend when the three went to college together, but he had cheated on her with Chuck's then girlfriend, Jill Roberts. He had broken both of their hearts, not that Chuck would ever admit that out loud. It was something that both of them still hadn't quite recovered from.

After Chuck had typed in the correct phrase to defeat the terrible troll, thousands of pictures flashed across the screen. It had taken all night to get through all of them, and by the time that Chuck's alarm had gone off by 7 in the morning, both of them had fallen to the ground. That whole day the both of them had experienced weird circumstances in which they knew much more than they were supposed to.

When Caroline had finally driven them home that night, they were both happy to get rest that their pounding heads sorely needed. Morgan was as oblivious to their pain as ever, blabbering on about the Irene Demova virus that had killed his computer. The porn star was amazing, he had said, but the consequences were barely worth it. Chuck fumbled with the lock on the door, having trouble fitting the key into the lock. When the door was finally unlocked, it swung open to reveal a robber trying to run away with Chuck's computer. All three of them stopped in shock, and the robber did as well. Chuck had managed to squeak out, "Please, anything but the computer," and the fight was on. The robber ninja put the computer on the shelf, and then set themself up in a martial arts stance. Morgan started to through anything he could at the ninja, which it just blocked and sent into Chuck's body.

In the end, Chuck and Morgan had ended up on the floor on top of each other, leaving Caroline to deal the perp. As she rolled up her sleeves, she hoped the six week course on self-defense that her dad had made her take in high school would help her now. As Caroline put her hands up and positioned herself into a defensive stance, she knew that remembering wouldn't help her either way; she didn't think she was brave enough to hurt anyone. She hadn't even been able to hit her instructor hard enough when she had taken the class because she was afraid she would hurt him, despite the mat that he held up to protect himself.

Suddenly, the computer fell from the shelf, shattering in a way that Caroline knew would be unfixable. All of her attention turned away from the fight; instead, she cringed at the destruction of a beautiful computer like Chuck's and wondered how much it would cost to replace it. She heard the ninja swear –_Was that a girl's voice? It sounds familiar._-And then, seeming to notice her mistake, the robber sent a roundhouse to Caroline's face, catching her in the eye and sending her crashing into the ground. The ninja robber then fled the scene.

"Carrie!" Chuck yelled, rushing over to her side and looking at her eye that was shut and tearing. "Let's put some frozen peas on that eye."

"Chuck, your computer…" Chuck looked at it in mourning for a moment, and then turned his attention back to Caroline.

"It's not as big a deal at your eye right now, Carrie. Come on, let's get some ice on it and call Ellie. She'll know what to do." After they got her ice on her eye and called Ellie, they returned to the computer, where Morgan was gingerly going through its shattered remains. "She's gone dude." He stood up and stood next to Caroline and Chuck. "She lived a good life, buddy, and she was taken from us far too soon…"

Just before Morgan could continue his heart warming eulogy for the computer, Eleanor Bartowski burst through the door, ready to break skulls. "Carrie! Whoever did this to you is not going to get away with it! How's the eye?" As Caroline pulled the peas away from her eye, Chuck had to look away in order to control his gag reflex. It was quickly turning sickly shades of yellow and blue and was swollen to the point where she couldn't see out of it. Immediately Ellie switched from big sister mode to doctor mode. "I brought you some pain meds from the hospital. They make you pretty loopy, so you're going to have to stay here the night and tomorrow too. I'm not letting you go to work like this."

"Um, isn't it illegal to give me non-prescribed drugs?"

"I'm your doctor and I'm prescribing them to you now."

"I'm not sure that that's how it works…" But Ellie rolled right over her and held up a takeout bag of Chinese food.

"I brought some food with me because you can't take these meds on an empty stomach. So once you've finished it, take two pills and go to Chuck's room to get some sleep. He'll either take the couch or the other side of the bed, but knowing my brother, he'll probably vouch for the couch. Now march!" And marched she did, because no one argues with Ellie once she gets into her big sister/doctor mode.

The next day, Caroline had stayed in bed all day; well, Chuck's bed, which a normal guy would have probably been upset about. But Chuck was so worried about Caroline's face that he didn't care about taking the couch for a couple nights. He even took that same day off so he could tend to Caroline and her wound. She didn't like the attention; it was just a bruise, she had said, and it would be healed soon enough. But neither Bartowski was hearing it. So there Caroline stayed, cooped up in Chuck's room for two days.

While Caroline hadn't thought about it, Chuck was extremely uncomfortable after the attempted robbery, knowing that his easily opened window was probably the culprit. When he had called Morgan earlier that day, Morgan had said that one of the employee's theory about the ninja robber was that Chuck was the target of a ninja vendetta, which just freaked him out more. So he snuck out that next day while Caroline was sleeping to go get locks for his windows.

While browsing at Large Mart, he saw a man and "flashed" on him, revealing that he was some sort of demolitions expert. Chuck quickly found an employee of the store, feeling ridiculous when he saw the same man joking with the cashier. Chuck left the store, convinced that Bryce had done something to him. If Chuck had looked a little longer, he would have seen the man put away his wallet and the gun hidden in his jacket. Chuck walked out of the store, worried about Carrie and his brain, forgetting about the locks completely.

That next day, Caroline put her foot down. "No! I will not stay in this bed anymore! My eye is healing fine and I can still fix computers. I am going crazy in this house all day!" She was so stubborn that neither sibling could convince her otherwise, so she and Chuck went to work that day, with Chuck driving, of course.

The minute they entered the store, Morgan jumped them. "Chuck, you wouldn't believe who came in again yesterday! It was Vicki—Ouch, Carrie, I forgot about the eye. How're you doing?"

"As well as I could be," Caroline replied optimistically, her eye hurting with every word she spoke.

While Morgan still looked at her worriedly, he turned back to Chuck. "Vicki Vale was here yesterday, dude! She was looking for you!"

"You mean Sarah? Why would she be looking for me?" Chuck was very confused. Caroline snorted at his comment, and Chuck turned to her expectantly.

"I can't believe that you're that oblivious. She really liked you, Chuck! Yesterday she even asked me if you would go out with her. She gave you her _number_. How more obvious can you get?" Caroline was surprised that Chuck was this ignorant, but then again it had been a while since he had gone out with anyone and Caroline couldn't let him pass up a girl like Sarah. Even with their brief meeting, Caroline knew that Sarah was different. Chuck pondered what she said quietly. "Have you even called her yet?" Caroline asked him impatiently. At Chuck's guilty face, she knew that he didn't. "Chuck! You have to call her! Right now!" She looked at the time, 7:30 in the morning. "Well, not now, but as soon as it is a respectable time. Now march!"

As Chuck walked away to the Nerd Herd desk, Morgan stared at her in awe. "Wow, channeling your inner Ellie there, Carrie." As Caroline shrugged and continued her walk to the break room, he followed. "You know, that was kind of hot… And seeing as Ellie's taken, do you wanna…" He gestured to himself and wiggled his eyebrows playfully, and Caroline smiled at him before shoving him away.

"Gross!" She said jokingly. Morgan smiled as well, and stayed behind while she continued on her way to the break room to put away her lunch in her locker.

"You know can't deny this sexiness, Carrie!" He shouted after her.

"In your dreams, loverboy!" She shouted without looking back. Morgan had always teased Caroline about wanting him; once, way back in freshman year of high school, she had been dared to kiss him. It was awful; Morgan and Caroline were just too much like siblings to ever feel that way for the other. Ever since, Morgan had teased her about liking him, which she took in strides. While he could get annoying at times, Caroline loved Morgan like a brother. He had always been there for her, and he was the person that never failed to make Caroline actually laugh, something that she rarely did honestly anymore.

Later on, during lunch, Chuck was resting his head on the Nerd Herd counter, and Caroline was in her usual position, new comic book in hand. Someone rang the bell, and Chuck was exhausted and upset, thinking that the ringer was Morgan. "Not now, Morgan, it was a late night and I slept on the couch, which was extremely uncomfortable…" he trailed off once he realized that the hand he had reached for to take off the bell is not Morgan's, but in fact a girl's. He looks up and saw Sarah, and shot out of his chair. Caroline looked up to see Sarah at the desk, and put her comic down, settling in for whatever came next.

"Hi! Hi," Chuck tried again with a forced cool, "Phone troubles again?" He took out his screwdriver from his back pocket and tried to flip it in the air; however, it bounced off his hand and clattered to the desk. Sarah pretended to giggle at his antics as he hurriedly picked it up again.

"Uh, yeah," Sarah replied, "I'm not sure I'm able to receive calls, because I never got one from you." While Morgan giggled like a school girl from a shelf behind Chuck, Caroline took Chuck aside and started in on him in a hushed whisper.

"You said you were gonna call her!"

"Yeah, well, I got a little busy! I was going to call later!" Chuck whispered back, just as heatedly.

"A little late for that, isn't it?" They both turned back to Sarah, and then to each other. "You're going to do fine. Now go," Caroline said, and shoved him toward Sarah again. He smiled sheepishly, and she told him that she had an appointment with a realtor and that she had just moved here. He welcomed her awkwardly.

"Thanks, but I don't really know anyone. I was hoping you'd show me around," at Chuck's nervousness, she amended her statement, "that is, if you're free…"

"Chuck is free, as free as can be. He's got nothing but time on his hands, this one." Morgan interjected. At both Chuck and Caroline's glare, he pretended to be called away. "What's that, Sir? Xerox machine? I'm on it."

Caroline stepped up to the counter, and helped Chuck out. "What Morgan was trying to say, was that Chuck would love to show you around town. There's this club in town tonight that the Ship Breakers are playing at; they're one Chuck's favorite local bands. Ever heard of them?"

"Ship Breakers? I don't think so…" Sarah replied. Something clicked in Caroline's mind, but she didn't quite know what she was recognizing.

"They're great!" Chuck said awkwardly.

"Well I'd love to see them with you. Here's my address, pick me up at 8." Sarah said, and left the store. Morgan congratulated Chuck on his catch, and they returned to work.

Meanwhile, Caroline was still working on what she had recognized. It felt like something that she had heard before… and suddenly everything clicked inside her head. "Chuck?" she called out, her voice dripping with dread and her face white.

Chuck turned to her, and rushed to her side when he thought that Caroline was hurt. "What is it, what's wrong? Is it your eye? Because I knew you should have stayed home today, Ellie and I told you, but you insisted and look where we are now…"

"No, Chuck, it's not the eye." Caroline took a deep breath. "I think Sarah is Ninja-Robber."

"Ha ha, very funny, now what's really the matter?"

"Chuck, Sarah is the ninja robber! When she was at your house and the computer fell, she said a curse word. I thought it sounded familiar but I wrote it off, and know I realize that it's Sarah! She said ship in the exact same way!"

Chuck refused to believe this. "Nice try, Carrie, but Sarah isn't Ninja-Robber. Great joke. Is Morgan in on it too?"

"No, Sarah really is Ninja-Robber!"

"This isn't funny anymore…"

"I'm not trying to be funny! Sarah is the one who was trying to steal the computer and she's the one who kicked me in the face!"

"That doesn't make any sense…" Chuck said.

Caroline looked up at him, determined to have him understand. "Why didn't Sarah say anything about my eye?" she asked him.

"I'm sure she was just being polite."

"But she didn't even react when she saw my face. Everyone has at least looked away or asked about it or looked at it curiously! She just looked at me normally, like she knew it would be there! _Because she put it there_!" Caroline said.

"Are you saying the only date I've gotten in at least a year was because she wanted to know what's in my computer?" Chuck asked.

"I—I don't know. I'm just pretty sure that she isn't who you think she is." She went up to Chuck, patting him on the back. "I'm sorry."

"You could be wrong, you know."

"I could be." Caroline said, knowing that she was most likely right. "Alright, here. On your date tonight, I'll be around the club just in case you need any help. Send me a signal, text, call, something, and I'll meet you in your car."

"Fine. But you can't interfere unless I ask."

"Alright, I can do. And if I'm wrong about Sarah, I'm sorry."

"What if you're right about her?"

"Then I'm really sorry."

Knowing Chuck was nervous for his date, Caroline texted him helpful advice on her way over to the club. "Chuck, she'll love you if you just be yourself! Just try to avoid talking about anything too nerdy on the first date, and later you can introduce her to your universe of nerdiness. Try to steer clear from anything about Stanford or Jill or him and you'll be fine. Don't be nervous!"

And Caroline waited on a bench a few shops away from the club, with her plethora of comic books to keep her company. She preferred silence over noise, so she didn't listen to her iPhone. A couple hours later, she heard Sarah and Chuck, and looked up to see what was going on. "Give me the keys, Chuck." Sarah demanded.

Caroline's eyes narrowed. This didn't seem like the Sarah that had come into the store earlier. Something was off… so she put her comic in her bag and started heading over as Chuck started talking. "I-I don't think that's such a good idea… You see, only employees are supposed to drive the Nerd Herd mobile… Company policy, you know…" He trailed off as Sarah picked the lock and got in the car. "How did you get into my car?"

Caroline was in full on panic mode then. She knew that she was right about Sarah, and now Chuck was going to find out.

"Get in," Sarah shouted to Chuck. In the distance, a black sedan swerved onto the street and heads straight for the Nerd Herder. "Just get in!" She didn't have to tell Chuck a third time. Just as Chuck got in, Caroline also jumped into the car, just avoiding jumping into thin air as Sarah swung into the street and sped off away from the sedan.

"Oh my god, oh my god, you were right!" Chuck moaned, turning to Caroline. Then, noticing her head bleeding, he starts freaking out even more. "Are you ok?"

"I just got a little cut on my head jumping into the car, but I'm fine." Two head injuries in less than a week. _Well,_ Caroline thought,_ it could have been worse._ Turning her attention to Sarah, she says, "Sarah, I can't believe you're actually the Ninja-Robber! Why did you kick me in the face?!" Caroline shouted in a panic.

"Why are you here? You shouldn't be here!" Sarah exclaimed, upset that an innocent civilian was in danger and ignoring Caroline's question. But before Caroline could answer, the black sedan came speeding into view, right in front of them and heading straight for them. Sarah breaked suddenly; almost sending Caroline through the windshield had Chuck not stuck his arm out in front of her. "Thanks." Caroline sent him a grin.

"No problem," he replied with a panicked one of his own. "Just put on your seatbelt." But Caroline disregarded his statement, bracing herself against the two seats in front of her. Sarah speeded in reverse, with the black car speeding forward. From her position, she could see the driver. He was an older man, not terribly older, but older, and he was huge. Caroline would have looked like a bug standing next to him, she mused. His face held a look mixed between concentrated and content, maybe even glee, so Caroline decided it was his happiest look, because he seemed to be the type of man who was happiest going after people.

His hands were what she looked at the most, however. Hands had always been a big turn on for her. She liked strong looking hands; they didn't have to be big, but she liked the feeling of strong hands around her. It made her feel safe. So the first thing she looked at any guy was his hands. They looked very strong and capable, and they were also big. They were sort of blocky, but not in an unappealing way, more in a chiseled, Michelangelo way. As they tightened around the wheel, Caroline got inappropriate tingling in places that shouldn't tingle during a high speed chase. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when Chuck started freaking out loudly.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Chuck yelled as the black sedan started hitting their front bumper repeatedly. "Oh my God, we're gonna die!"

Meanwhile, Sarah was asking Chuck for the next turn. He answered left, but she turned the wrong left and the crew bounced down some stairs. Caroline catapulted around the back, because she still hadn't buckled herself in. The strap of her bag broke, and comics spilled out onto the backseat of the car. Finally they made it down the staircase, and thought they were safe. Sarah had started explaining some information to Chuck, but Caroline wasn't listening; she was just watching the black sedan speed toward the Nerd Herder silently. Just before the sedan t-boned itself into the side of the Nerd Herder, Caroline made eye contact with Mr. Perfect Hands. Something pulled her to; she felt that the impulse wasn't entirely of her own volition. His face looked hungry and his hands still gripped the wheel tightly. She thought about what she looked like, with her black eye and blood dripping down her face from her cut. She thought she saw something change in his eyes as he looked at her, but the moment went so fast, she couldn't be sure.

Then she felt the impact.

If she thought that going down the stairs was bad, getting hit was so much worse. She ping ponged off the walls, cutting her arms and legs and probably cracking a few ribs along the way. Sarah's door was destroyed, and she told them to run. Caroline and Chuck got out of the car, running toward Sarah. He tripped over the bumper that had fallen off in the crash, and Caroline was too slow to get to him. "Sarah!" they both cried out, watching the car zooming toward her; and then her throwing a knife into the red button that sent up the barrier. Immediately, the barrier went up and the car crashed into it.

"Run!" Sarah shouted again, and again they ran. Into the building, they raced up stairs after stairs until they finally reached the roof. Caroline looked as if she were about to die from the run, and she was actually wheezing. Her ribs were at least bruised, if not cracked. Her forehead was still bleeding, which was a little disconcerting. She had cuts on her arm and all over her legs; altogether, she probably looked like the victim of a "crazy ninja vendetta." Chuck flipped when he saw her, but she told him she was fine; it was only a few cuts, she said, and it could have been much worse. She decided not to tell him about the ribs.

"We have to take her to a hospital!" Chuck shouted at Sarah, who looked at him with pity but offered no words of comfort.

"How well do you know Bryce Larkin?" Sarah asked. Caroline let out a groan at the name. She wished that she would never hear that name again.

"Bryce—how do you know Bryce? You know what, that doesn't matter. What does matter is Carrie! Look at her!" Chuck replied maniacally, watching her face rapidly turn whiter with pain.

"Chuck, I'm fine, really!" Caroline interjected shakily, but it seemed like the only one who knew that she was there was Chuck. Sarah didn't even look in her direction.

"We worked together in the CIA." Sarah said, disregarding Chuck's concern for Caroline.

"He worked for the CIA? Bryce Larkin from Connecticut is a spy?"

"He went rogue. Has he contacted you?"

"Yeah he—he sent me an email the other day. It was this riddle from an old game that we designed in college. And a bunch of pictures. Wait, why are you asking me this?"

"You saw them?"

"The pictures? Yeah, Carrie and I both did, and weird things have happened ever since. Now what is going on!?"

"She saw them too?!" Sarah asked, finally turning to Caroline as if noticing she was there for the first time.

"Yes, I saw them too!" Caroline said in exasperation. "Now, like Chuck said, what is going on?!"

"I may have to point my gun at you, so don't freak out."

Chuck and Caroline looked at each other in panic, before they heard a voice and footsteps.

In walked Mr. Perfect Hands, who was bigger than Caroline had originally thought when she saw him sitting behind the wheel. "It's late, I'm tired, and… let's cut the crap and you give him to me now. He belongs to the NSA. You can keep the girl; she saw too much, she's dead anyway." He grumbled out, his low voice making Caroline shiver, until she registered his last few words and she shivered for an entirely different reason.

At this Chuck's head snapped up to look at the man, and he got defensive while Carrie grew more scared. "No one is going to die tonight, especially not Carrie." Turning to Caroline, he tried to comfort her in some way. "Carrie, hey, come on, don't worry…" Chuck whispered. She just grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly.

"The CIA gets him first!" Sarah said, whipping out her gun and pointing it at Chuck. "Come any closer and I shoot!" Mr. Perfect Hands whipped his gun out just as fast as Sarah, and aimed at her.

"You shoot him, I shoot you, and then the girl. I leave all three of your bodies here and go out for a late snack. I'm thinking pancakes." Mr. Perfect Hands said, making Caroline laugh lightly, if not nervously, something which hurts her bruised/cracked ribs. Mr. Perfect Hands glanced at her curiously before turning back to Sarah.

Meanwhile, Chuck nudged Caroline, and gave her a look. She nodded in return and they both start to run in the opposite direction. "Chuck, no!" Sarah cried out, but both Caroline and Chuck saw a tall building in the background, and they "flashed" simultaneously, stopping in their tracks.

"They're gonna kill him." Chuck said.

"Kill who?" asked Mr. Perfect Hands. Caroline just wished that Sarah would call him by his name already so she could stop thinking of him as Mr. Perfect Hands.

"Stanfield the general. The General Stanfield, you know, the NATO guy?" Caroline responded. Mr. Perfect Hands and Sarah share a confused look. "Look, something is wrong with Chuck and I, ok? I don't know what it is, but something is very, very wrong. We're remembering things we shouldn't know."

"Okay tell us. What things?" Sarah asked the both of them.

"I don't know, I don't know. For example, there was, uh, there was a Serbian demolitions expert at the Large Mart the other day. That's kind of odd, wouldn't you say?" Chucks said, overwhelmed.

"And, last week the NSA - you guys intercepted some blueprints, blueprints of a hotel. That hotel," Caroline says, pointing at the building behind her, "and the CIA—you guys found a vial of schematics of a bomb in Prague. The bomb is in that hotel." Caroline added, just as overwhelmed as Chuck.

Mr. Perfect Hands moved his gun from Sarah to Caroline. In return, Sarah trained her gun on Mr. Perfect Hands. "They were working with Bryce."

"No, Casey. They opened Bryce's email." Sarah looked at Caroline. "She wasn't supposed to be there." She turned to Chuck. "Chuck, those pictures that you and Caroline saw, they were encoded with secrets. Government secrets. If you saw them, then you know them."

Caroline was glad to finally have a name to go along with his perfect hands. The man she now recognized as Casey spoke. "Wait. You're telling me that ALL of our secrets are in their heads?" He took his gun off of Caroline, and aimed at Chuck's heart. Sarah took a step closer to Casey.

"They ARE the computer."

"What did you say?" Caroline asked in a small voice.

"What does that even mean?" asked Chuck.

"You said there was a bomb—do we have time to stop it?" Sarah asked.

"What—Are you guys crazy?" Chuck asked.

"We're the good guys. We stop bombs from exploding." Casey said.

"Look, I can't help you." Looking down at Caroline's scared stiff form, he amended. "We can't help you. Sorry, we really wish that we could but we can't. May you could ask Bryce to do it, he can save the day—"

"Bryce is dead!" Sarah yelled at him, pain showing on her face before it locked away inside again. Chuck looked shocked for a moment, before looking at Caroline, who was a combination of terrified, shocked, and sad. "He died sending those secrets to you."

"Bryce is dead?" Caroline managed to croak out.

Casey got impatient with the lack of haste and sent a shot into the sky before training his gun on Chuck again. Chuck jumped in surprise, but Caroline didn't move a muscle. "Yeah, and he's gonna have company unless you two start talking. So pretty please, can we diffuse the bomb now?"

Caroline spoke again; her face curiously blank and her voice back to normal. "According to the schedule, the General should be on stage right now…"

The ragtag group of bomb diffusers ran into the lobby of the building. "Casey, wait! We can't take them, they're too valuable. Not to mention that Caroline looks like she just walked off of a horror movie set." Sarah said, and Casey turned to look at her.

She did look bad. The cut on her forehead had finally stopped bleeding, but the dried blood that had stuck to her face and the black eye that she had would be enough to take people off guard. There were rips and tears in her large shirt and baggy sweatpants, and blood spots on both. Her arms were already bruised and turning black and blue. The way she was holding herself, she even might have a few bruised or cracked ribs. Casey couldn't help but notice that though the clothes were damaged beyond repair, they still hung to her curves in an appealing manner.

"Tell us where to go," Casey growled at them.

"The easiest way?" Chuck asked, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"The fastest way." Sarah replied.

Both Caroline and Chuck took off through the pond in the middle of the lobby, with Casey and Sarah yelling and following after them. Finally, they reached a set of double doors. "Through there, through there!" Chuck yelled. They entered and saw a huge crowd of people, from photographers to journalists to guests of the event.

"Where is it?" Casey ground out. But Caroline was already making her way to a rolling tray in the middle of the room. Casey and Sarah gave each other a look before following after, Chuck behind them. They found her standing at the open tray, studying the bomb inside. Sarah and Casey started assessing the situation and gaining control. Chuck pulled her away and starts talking to her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Chuck asked her with worry.

"I already told you I'm fine, Chuck."

"No, not physically. Emotionally. I know that you still had feelings for…" Chuck trailed off as she looked up with him with tears in her eyes before she swallowed them.

"I don't have feelings for him anymore, Chuck. I did, and then he went and broke my heart, not to mention hurt you as well. He kicked you out of Stanford, for Pete's sake! What he did to you, to me, with no warning or anything… it feels unforgivable. I am sad that he's dead, but… I would be much sadder if you had died. " Caroline replied, melancholy. Chuck pulled her in for a hug and she let in a sharp gasp. Chuck looked at her in confusion before seeing her face scrunch up in pain. Looking further south, he realized that she had hurt her ribs. Before he could say anything, she had turned back to Sarah and Casey.

"I have an idea." Caroline said, and Casey turns.

"This isn't an Xbox, and you're not an Xman… woman." He said harshly.

"I understand that. This is a Prism Express laptop. We sell these at our store. This has a DOS overwrite." Caroline replied. Sarah and Casey exchanged looks. "Look, I might not have a detailed knowledge of how to diffuse a bomb, but I know computers. It's my job."

Sarah looked at Casey again, and said, "She's our best shot."

"Go," Casey growled again, and Caroline realized that growling is his most often used mode of communication. She rushed up to the computer, with thirty seconds on the clock, and typed in IRENA DEMOVA in the search engine. Chuck joined her when he saw what she was doing.

Casey, on the other hand, didn't know what to think. "She's searching for porn?" She didn't strike him as someone who watched porn at all; let alone Irene Demova. In fact, she had seemed much more innocent than that.

"No," Chuck answered as he watched the search results come up and her click the first one. "She's being kelvin." Caroline turned and hid her face in Chuck's shoulder while Casey and Sarah shared yet another doubting look. He felt her smile against him before images of the porn star flashed on the computer, complete with sound effects. As Chuck held her tightly to him, Caroline vaguely heard Sarah's disgusted noise and Casey's amused "huh." What she didn't know, however, was that Casey wasn't amused at the porn, but that he was happy that he was right; she was innocent.

At the very last second, the Demova virus had killed the computer and the bomb didn't go off; they were safe. "You did it!" Chuck told Caroline, who was still hiding in his shoulder.

"Is it done?" She asked him.

"Yes."

Caroline whipped her head off of Chuck's shoulder to look at the bomb. "We did it! We diffused an actual bomb! _I_ diffused an actual bomb!" She shouted happily, but then her mood turned sour. "What if I was wrong?" Her face turned green.

"Don't puke on the C4." Casey told her, and Chuck pulled her away again.

They talked quietly for a few minutes before returning to Casey and Sarah.

"—his sister?" Sarah finished, and Caroline and Chuck both snap to attention.

"What about my sister?" Chuck asked. Sarah tried to cover, but neither Chuck nor Caroline were having it. "No, no, no, you listen. Keep my family and friends out of it. Having one already in it is bad enough."

"We'll see," Casey said, and Caroline turned to look at him, while Chuck continued to talk to Sarah. She studies him for a bit, until Chuck told Sarah that he and Caroline were going home.

"No you're not," Casey said.

"You, you need us," Chuck said, and he and Caroline left. Caroline looked back at Casey as they left, and he was glaring at the two of them. She turned back and quickened her pace.

As they were walking down the street, Caroline told Chuck, "I'm going to the cage. You coming?" But she already knew Chuck's answer. He was going to his beach to think; something that he had done often to cope with his life. He shook his head no; they shared a tight hug before going their separate ways.

Whenever anything caused Caroline to cope with her own life, she found that it was better if she buried herself in work. When her dad had died four years ago, it had come as a real shock; everyone had though that Sergeant Major Samuel Ashburn would never die. She buried herself into her job at the BuyMore; it was easy, because everyone else neglected theirs. She spent hours in the Cage, the store's holding area for all the broken electronics that came into the store, fixing computer after computer. It was something that she loved to do, ever since she was a little girl, fixing broken things. Eventually, fixing the little things grew too easy, and she needed bigger and better things. Before she started college, she had given herself two choices for her life: she could be a surgeon, who fixed broken people, or an electrical engineer with a computer specialty, so she could not only fix computers but make new computers and software that would replace the old, defective ones. She eventually chose computers because she didn't think she could deal with the blood, and also because Chuck was a computer guy too.

Chuck and Caroline had been inseparable since they were little kids. Their dads were best friends, and they often worked together when Caroline's father wasn't deployed. Then Morgan joined the mix, and they were the three musketeers until college. Both Caroline and Chuck had been accepted into Stanford, but Morgan hadn't gone to college. Caroline studied with Chuck on the computer track because she enjoyed learning how a computer worked. She especially loved the test lab days, when they were given a broken computer and been told to fix it and write down the steps.

Caroline's thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain in her chest. For a moment, she had forgotten about her injuries because of her haste to get to the BuyMore, but it was proving to be a nuisance; she wondered if she should have gone to the hospital instead.

"I would get those ribs checked out, if I were you." Casey said out of the darkness, scaring Caroline and almost making her drop the hard drive she was holding.

"Casey! Don't do that."

"Trust me: Ignoring a rib injury is never a good thing." He said with an honest face, although his voice was still rough.

She looked at him with a scrutinizing expression, then sighed and gave in. "Fine. Come on."

"Where am I going?" he asked.

"You're taking me to the hospital." At his pained expression, she sighed exasperatedly. "Come on, big guy, you wanted me to go. The least you can do is drive me there." He reluctantly gave in, and she hopped in his sedan (which was surprisingly undamaged) and they were off.

During the car ride, Caroline took the time to study Casey more closely. He held himself with pride, and looked to be ready for a fight, anytime, anywhere. He didn't have very many expressions, with what Caroline had seen so far, he often had a frown on his face, which changed to a sneer or a scowl. He glared when he was confused, and he grunted. A lot. He growled when he was angry, but his grunts were different. She had only known him that night, and already she had heard a plethora of different grunts. She felt that there were only more to come, and she wondered if she start should number them.

Caroline had a feeling that the only ways to tell what he was truly feeling were his eyes. Although they seemed to be locked shut at first glance, his steel orbs told a story if you looked carefully. His glare softens, almost imperceptibly to someone who didn't care, but Caroline studied everything; it was what she did. If she wasn't reading a comic book or fixing computers at work, she was most likely people watching. She looked for the odd people; not the usual soccer mom or harried father who was looking for just the right thing for their child. She had already studied everything about her coworkers; she knew their moves like the back of her hand.

For some reason, looking at Casey in the eye didn't seem displeasing to her as if was with most all other people. She felt that she could stare at his miniscule emotion shifts all day, which was different than anything she had ever felt after… She even got sick of looking Chuck in the eyes. But she felt that she could stare at his forever. She chalked it up to the fact that he was a new person to study, and the way to do it was look at his eyes. She didn't admit it to herself, but she felt something else pulling her to look as well.

She studied Casey for the entire car ride; if he had noticed, he hadn't shown it. Only once they were through the door of the hospital did Caroline realize that she hadn't told Casey to avoid Westside Medical, the hospital where Ellie and Awesome worked. Before she had time to tell Casey and leave, she heard Ellie's panicked voice. "Caroline! What are you—what happened?!"

"Ellie, I'm fine, really, I just, ugh, got into a minor car accident, nothing to worry about."

"You have blood all over you! Your clothes are ripped and—Is this the guy that hit you?" She asks menacingly.

"What? No—no, this is—"

Casey interrupted her. "John, John Casey. I saw the accident and drove her to the hospital. She said she had an aversion to ambulances…?" John? His name was John? Caroline looked him up and down again. He could be a John. John suited him well.

"Oh! Well, thank you. Carrie is family, and if anything happened to her, I don't know what I would do."

"No problem, ma'am. I'm new to the area, and I was just out for a walk when some idiot ran a red light and t-boned her." At this, Caroline raised an eyebrow. If his story was remotely correct, Casey was the idiot, since he was the one who had caused the injuries. Well, most of them, anyway.

"Well, thanks again for bringing her here. The nerve of some people." And Ellie started grumbling about terrible drivers and accidents.

"Well, I'm just going to wait here until she's all fixed up, just to make sure she's alright." And then Casey—_John_—sat himself down in a plastic waiting chair, and pulled a magazine from the rack. The image of him reading the magazine gave Caroline another thought.

"Oh my gosh, my comic books!" When both Casey and Ellie looked at her, she continued her rant. "My favorite comic books were all in the car! I didn't take them out! Oh my god, they'll be gone! I can't believe that this is happening."

"Trust her to be worried about her comic books more than her health," Ellie told the man she knew as John, and turned to Caroline. "We'll get your comics later, ok? I'm sure that they'll be in your car, wherever it is. Right now you need to be checked out. First some robber gives you a black eye and now you get hit by a car? It is not your week, Carrie." And Ellie pulled her away to be poked and prodded.

Meanwhile, Casey shared called someone. After a short chat, he hung up and continued reading the magazine.

In the examination room, Ellie was talking to Caroline while she fixed her up. "So, John is nice, huh?"

"Oh?" Caroline asked, still in her funk from losing the comics. "Oh, yeah. He's pretty Kelvin." Ellie sighs at the joke.

Back in middle school, Caroline and Chuck had been major science nerds. They were in the science club together, and one day they had come home giggling and called everything "Kelvin." Finally, Ellie got upset being out of the loop, and they told her that 0° Kelvin was the coldest temperature in the universe; therefore, it was "cooler than cool." Ellie thought the joke was a bit dorky, but she appreciated anything that made Chuck—or Caroline, for that matter—smile back in those days. It had been a year since their mom left them, and Chuck hadn't really been himself. And because Caroline's mom died when she was little, Mary Bartowski 's departure was just as tough on her. Ever since, the expression had just wormed its way into all of their lives.

"He's kinda handsome too…" Ellie said innocently.

"Ellie! Ca—John and I are just friends. Well, more of acquaintances, really… I mean, we just met!" Ellie looked at her knowingly. "But no, no, no!" Caroline said, aghast that Ellie would even think that.

"I'm just saying… It's time to get back out on that horse, Carrie! You haven't dated anyone since Grant!" At the name, Caroline stiffened and shot Ellie a look. Ellie just shrugged it off. "I'm sorry, Carrie, but it's true. It's time to date people again! And John seems really nice. A bit old… but nice."

"I don't know… maybe," Caroline said, knowing that this was the only way to get Ellie off of her back.

"Good!" Ellie said, and threw her trash in the garbage. "Let me just get you a pair of scrubs and tell John that you're ok, and then you can leave." Caroline groaned as Ellie left the room.

Caroline heard a knock at the door. "Come in!" She said, her back turned to gather her clothes. "Honestly, Ellie, you don't have to—" Caroline stopped suddenly when she saw Casey in the doorway.

Casey stopped short as he saw Caroline without a shirt, gauze covering her ribs and breasts. Although she was appropriately covered, she still brought her bloody shirt to her chest, covering her assets.

"Casey, sorry I—I wasn't expecting you. What," she said, shoving a stray piece of hair behind her ear, "what are you doing here?"

Casey cleared his mind of his not so nice thoughts and refocused on the mission. "We have to talk about what we're going to do with you, now that you know our secrets."

Caroline heard Ellie out in the hallway, talking with a nurse. "Let's talk about it in the car, ok?" and before Casey could respond, Ellie came into the room, holding the scrubs.

"Here, I brought you the scrubs." Glancing at John, she added, "I told John your room number, I hope you don't mind," and sent her a wink. Caroline squeaked out a thanks, grabbed the scrubs, and ran into the bathroom to change.

"So, John, where are you staying?" Ellie asked nonchalantly.

"I'm moving into an apartment in Echo Park. It's really nice, there's a courtyard with nice fountain." Casey said conversationally, playing the perfect role of a nice stranger.

"You're the new tenant in 1836 Echo Park?" At Casey's confused nod, Ellie continued. "What a small world! We live in 1838 Echo Park. Well, my brother Chuck shares an apartment with my boyfriend and I, and Caroline has her own apartment next door, but she hardly spends any time there… It is such a coincidence that you're our new neighbor!"

"Wow, it really is a small world, huh?" Casey replied.

Caroline came out of the bathroom changed into Ellie's scrubs. "Hey, El? Do you know how to get blood out of converse? My while ones are stained!"

"We'll worry about that later. Did you know that John is our new neighbor?"

Caroline whipped her head up to look at Casey. "No, that, uh, didn't come up."

"What a coincidence!" Ellie said again.

"Yeah, how odd?" Caroline said, hurrying the conversation. "Well, I think _John_ and I should be going. I'll see you later, Ellie!" Caroline practically ran out of the door, pulling Casey behind her. Once they reached the car, Caroline pondered how to get in without hurting herself more. It was pretty tall, and before she didn't have to worry about Ellie killing her if she ruined any of her careful treatments to her injuries. Before Caroline could think of a solution to her problem, the door was opened and Casey carefully but quickly slid her into the car. She barely got a "thanks" out before he closed the door and went around to his own side.

Casey barely got the time to pull out onto the street before Caroline started in on her questioning. "What did Ellie mean by 'our new neighbor'?"

He didn't look at her as he started to drive on the road. "Cold water and then bleach, don't rub, just dab." Caroline looked at him like he was crazy, and he explained himself. "For the converse."

Caroline just looked at him again before repeating herself. Casey sighed before he replied.

"The NSA and the CIA have started a joint operation to protect you and Bartowski, the Human Intersects. Our mission is to try to get it out of your heads and into the brains of real spies; but in the meantime, we may end up using you both in some missions to gather intel on people, places, names, anything you can." Seeing that Caroline was about to ask a question, Casey cut her off and continued talking. "You can't tell anyone about anything. You could be putting them in danger. You will continue your job at the BuyMore, and Walker and I will integrate ourselves into your lives in order to protect you both." Caroline frowned while taking all the information in.

"However," Casey said as he pulled into the BuyMore parking lot, "There is another option. You go back to Washington with me, and Sarah will deal with Chuck here. I've read your file; you have no real connections or family here anymore beside the Bartowskis. You couldn't tell Bartowski's sister or her boyfriend anything, of course, but I'm sure that Bartowski will think of something for you. You could come to Washington and help your country, patriotism at its finest."

Caroline didn't need any time to think about her decision at all. "I'm staying here."

"Your country needs you, Ashburn. In Washington." She just blinked up at him.

"If you think that is going to convince me, you're wrong. I can serve my country right here, with Chuck and Ellie and Awesome and Morgan." Caroline looks away before continuing. "If you read my file, then you know my father was a Sergeant Major in the Marines. He taught me to never leave a man behind. If I left to go to Washington, I would leave Chuck here, alone, to deal with it all. He couldn't tell anyone, and it would kill him. Chuck isn't meant to be a liar. I couldn't do that to him. Not to mention Ellie. The Bartowskis have had enough people walk out on them in their lives. They don't need me walking out too. _Semper Fi_."

Her dad had always been proud of her, because she was, as he said, an "Ashburn through and through". Her dad had lived by the Marine saying, _Semper Fidelis_; _always faithful_. It was one of the things that Caroline had remembered most about her father, his ability to look after everyone before himself. He taught her early on that you stay with friends and family until the end. She, in turn, lived her life like he did. Caroline thought Casey would understand that; he didn't look like the type to leave a man behind.

Caroline sighed and looked away. Then she relaxed, looked back up at him and said, "You look like a military man, Casey. Navy?"

"Major John Casey, US Marine Corp." Caroline snorted at the stiff introduction.

"Then you must know better than anyone, Major." Caroline hopped out of the car before he could help her. Although it sent a wave of pain through her body, she felt accomplished. She started for the BuyMore.

Casey got out of the car walked with her. "In that case, then I have to inform you of our cover." Caroline stopped and looked up at him in confusion. "From now on, you and I are dating." Caroline raised an eyebrow, and he continued. "Solely for the cover, same as Bartowski and Walker." She nodded, and turned to continue walking. He didn't follow this time. "You can get Bartowski's sister to believe it, right?" He called after her.

"No problem! Goodnight, Major!" She yelled back without turning, and he left to go home. She stayed the entire night fixing computers, and at one point she fell asleep among the CPUs and mother boards.

She woke up the next morning when Chuck set a cup of coffee down next to her and nudged her awake. "Hey, tough night, right?" He says, jokingly.

She just looked at Chuck while drinking the coffee that he had brought for her, and noticed that he had brought her extra uniform, as well. "God, you're a lifesaver. Thanks," she told him, and then made him guard the door while she quickly changed into it.

"So," Chuck said while she was changing, "Any reason why I found a bag of comic books on my bed this morning?"

"Oh my god, my comic books!" Caroline said, having completely forgotten about it. "I totally forgot! I left them in your car when we had to run up onto the roof and I thought that I wouldn't get them back." She ponders it as she pulled her shirt over her head. "It was probably Casey, he heard me telling Ellie about it."

"Casey doing something nice? From our brief introduction, he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do that."

"I don't know…" Caroline said. She smoothed out her skirts and looked down at the blood splatters on her shoes before sighing and deciding that there was nothing she could do about it now.

"All clear!" She told Chuck, and he came back to look her over.

"Wow, you look terrible, Ashburn." Chuck said, looking at her bloody shoes to her bruised arms and black eye.

"You don't look too good yourself, Bartowski," she told him with a half smile. It was another one of their coping mechanisms. They joked around with each other to light the mood. "But really," Caroline continued, "I think the bloodstains on the shoes really bring the whole look together!"

They laughed before getting serious again. "I'm going try for the assistant manager position." Chuck told her.

"Wow, that's great!" Caroline told him, and she really meant it.

"I'm going to go turn in my application right now." He said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Then let's go," she said with a smile, and they bantered all the way to Big Mike's office.

He turned to her before he entered. "Wish me luck!"

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Caroline replied. It was yet another one of their traditions; whenever anyone had needed luck, the other would reply with their saying, reminding them that they were in control. She nodded reassuringly, and he entered the office. While she waited outside, Jeff and Lester walked up to her.

"Wow, Caroline, you're really beat up there. What happened this time?" Lester said, taking in her bruised and battered appearance.

"I was in a car accident… What do you mean by this time?" Caroline asked. She couldn't really remember a time when she came in hurt, expect… But no, they couldn't mean…

"When you first started working here, you came in with bruises. They were pretty bad, but they were mostly on your stomach. There was one on your jaw, but you covered that one up with makeup." Jeff said creepily.

Caroline's face turned white. "How… how did you guys see the ones on my stomach?" she stammered out.

"Oh, we have our ways…" They said in unison.

"I, I don't…"

"Caroline!" she heard, and she turned, relieved for the distraction, to see Casey coming toward her. "How are those healing?" He asked, lightly running a finger over her healing eye. She was slightly taken aback by the touching before she remembered their cover. She grabbed his hand before turning back to Jeff and Lester.

"Hey, guys, this is John. He's my—well, we're kinda dating, I guess," she said, turning to Casey to make sure she got it right. When he smiled at her, butterflies erupted in her stomach. She got the feeling that Casey didn't smile often.

Casey then turned to Jeff and Lester and scowled at them in disgust. "I'm the new guy." He said unkindly.

_The cover, Caroline. Think about the cover_, Caroline thought.

"John!" Caroline squealed in surprise and jumped up to hug him. He slowly wrapped his arms around her in return. Casey's reluctance to hug her told her that she was laying it on too thick. She was about to release when she felt Casey's large hands tighten on her sides, and goosebumps erupted all over her body. _He really does have perfect hands._ He stayed in his arms a second too long, and then slithered out, blushing. She tried to swallow her embarrassment. "You didn't tell me you were gonna work here," she said.

"It was a surprise," he said, and she smiled up at him.

"Speaking of surprises, thank you for the comic books." She said honestly, and noticed Casey's eyes change. His small smile stayed in place, but his eyes grew embarrassed. "It was really sweet," she said, looking down.

As she looked down, she caught a glimpse of his watch. Suddenly she flashed on it, and saw a video of Casey shooting something out of the window with a sniper rifle, his watch clearly evident on his arm. Her smile turned plastic, and she mumbled through her teeth, "Don't freak out."

* * *

_Hey, guys! I have started a new story. I'm pretty bad at updating, but I just wanted to post it to see what people thought of it. It took me a while, and I edited the crap out of it, but it is by no means perfect. So if you find any mistakes, just review with them. I am especially bad with consistent verb tense, and I think I caught all of them, but please review if you find one! I don't like long author notes in the beginnings, so I will write all of mine at the end._

_This is my first story with Chuck, so if anyone is reading this from an author update or something and hasn't seen Chuck before, I don't think that it'll be that much of a problem. I tried to be thorough and tell everything, but if you're confused review/watch the pilot. You'll understand what I was trying to get across. If you have seen Chuck before and you don't find that this is completely along the lines of the pilot, I felt that Caroline's influence on the story changes a lot of things. I wanted to change the pilot up a little but still be recognizable; I used a lot of the dialogue from the show for Sarah and Casey, at times at least, and I tried to keep as honest to the pilot as I could be, but still putting a little Carrie spin on it._

_Caroline's character is also very difficult for me to write; she's a pretty complex character for me to try to get across in my story, and it was hard for me to describe her exactly the way I wanted to. If you're confused on anything about her character, review. I also tried to capture Casey correctly, but he's a pretty hard dude to write, and at times I might have screwed up his character. Tell me what you think about it. _

_So, all in all, I am really proud that I wrote over 10,000 words for this chapter when the most I've ever written for one is maybe 3,000. I am also really proud of the content in the chapter. If you have anything to say about it, please tell me! As I said probably a million times in this note, I want reviews so I know how to be better. _

_No promises for anything more, but thanks for reading and please tell me what you think! _


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